For me, this hands-on experience began earlier this year at the 3D Collaboration and Interoperability conference in Denver Colorado.That’s when I had my first peak at what is now Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. The Denver conference’s attendees had flown in from the world’s major manufacturing companies looking for a better way to securely coordinate their highly complex 3D collaboration.And, just in time, Adobe was about to release its comprehensive collaboration solution.

This multifaceted software includes all the tools and interconnectivity designers and managers need to pull together complex collaborative input from a global talent pool, and now that the software has passed through months of extensive beta testing and is on the shelves or ready for download, I expect it will play a central role in next year’s event.

Acrobat 9 Pro Extended allows dispersed design and development teams to collect and coordinate diverse content and coordinate multiple inputs into a single collaborative environment.

Built on the solid foundation of the Acrobat we’re all familiar with, the words ‘Extended’ and ‘Pro’ are what give this collaboration tool its power, and it is these new integrated features that I’ve evaluated and will share with you in this review.

At the top of Acrobat 9’s extended features is a stylistically customizable PDF Portfolio that can include multiple PDF and MS Office documents replete with embedded rich media such as video, audio, interactive 3D models and various Flash widgets that get the point across in a succinct and compelling way.It even allows users to embed links to web pages for more in-depth information.For instance, users can package a spread sheet showing cost analysis with a descriptive Word document that includes an interactive 3D model, with a PowerPoint presentation and then share it all interactively on the Web with a worldwide audience.

Creating a customized portfolio is both intuitive and straight forward, and it all starts with building the individual elements that will comprise the portfolio.

Once Acrobat Pro Extended is installed several Microsoft applications contain Adobe PDF action buttons and pull-down menus that allow users to embed rich media objects and then convert these documents into lightweight PDF format for inclusion in the portfolio.

Figure 1 – Acrobat PDF Action Buttons Shown in PowerPoint 2007

I decided to populate my test portfolio with a mix of editable MS apps and PDF docs to simulate how this tool is used in the real world.

Including 3D Models

When designers collaborate they ideally want to experience and share their 3D content in 360-degree format, and that’s exactly what Acrobat 9 Pro Extended delivers.You can optionally import a 3D model directly into Acrobat, or drop it into an MS document.When you bring it directly into Acrobat you have immediate control of the object and are able to perform such operations as full view rotation, changing its appearance from solid to, wireframe, transparency, illustration, or solid outline, adding measurements, sticky notes, lighting and all the other view manipulations you’d expect in a high-end3D CAD viewer

Figure 2 – Embedded 3D Model with Editing Toolbar and Dimensioning

When importing a 3D model into MS documents these manipulation options are not available until you save the document into PDF format.But, the advantage here is that you are able to design and layout a very attractive page or presentation first, and then drop into an interactive and easily sharable format.

For additional flexibility, an included Adobe 3D Reviewer application can be launched that provides an independent workspace for making additional model adjustments in an editing environment. Once editing is complete you simply save the modified model back into your PDF document.